C1A. MULTIPHOTON IMAGING CORE C1 A l Establishment and setup of the Core: The Multiphoton Imaging (MPI) Core JHU became fully operational in November 2006 with support from this grant and funds provided by the institution. During the first year of funding, design and renovation of dedicated space suitable for imaging was completed, instrumentation was purchased and installed, and a fulltime technician was hired and trained. Dr. Bergles serves as the Director of this Core and is assisted by Dr. Pucak, who serves as Core Manager of the facility. The goals of this Core are to provide access to cuttingedge instrumentation for: 1) analyzing protein localization, protein dynamics, and protein-protein interactions with high resolution; 2) performing time-lapse imaging of multiple fluorophores in living cells and tissues; and 3) combining high-resolution imaging of fluorescently tagged proteins or ion indicator dyes with electrophysiological monitoring of electrical activity. The MPI Core was originally located on the 10th floor of the Wood Basic Science building in the Basic Science research cluster on the JHU medical campus. With institutional support, this facility was relocated in September 2009 down the hall to newly renovated space on the 10^ floor of the immediately adjacent Preclinical Teaching Building. This move increased the size of the facility 2-fold to ~500 sq. ft., which allowed reorganization of the microscope layout for more efficient use (necessitated after the installation of the second microscope), addition of a dedicated preparation area, and expansion of the image processing suite. The Core is currently divided into one large room (~350 sq. ft.) that houses a vibration isolation table, two microscopes and associated equipment, and an outer vestibule (~150 sq. ft.) that is used as an office by the senior research technician responsible for day-to-day operation of the facility and as a site for analysis of imaging and electrophysiology data. The original instrumentation for this Core (Zeiss LSM 510 NLO Meta) was provided by funds from the JHU SOM, and all space for the Core was provided by the Department of Neuroscience. Scheduling for this facility is aided by an interactive web-based calendar accessible through the JHU Neuroscience portal. This Core is located on the same floor as the laboratories of Core members Drs. Bergles, Ginty, Huganir, Kolodkin (PI) and Sockanathan, and it is readily accessible by the other investigators listed in this proposal who have laboratories on other floors in the same building or in adjacent buildings. The Preclinical Teaching Building is sen/ed by two elevators and is connected by a covered bridge to other buildings at JHU SOM, providing convenient access to the three Cores for all NINDS investigators in clinical and basic science departments.